Anticorruption: Public Works must explain “ballooned” cost of southern road

SANTO DOMINGO. – The Dominican Anticorruption Alliance (Adocco) asked Public Works minister Victor Diaz Rúa to explain the alleged irregularities it affirms were found in the construction of the Padre Las Casas-Guayabal highway, in Azua (south).

It said the cost of the span of only 15 kilometers, whose contractor is the company Malespín, ballooned to more than RD$900 million, or around RD$60 million per kilometer.

Adocco said a technical study on the construction conducted by the engineer Héctor Bobadilla October 26, at the request of Azua civil society organizations, “made it possible to clearly appreciate the embezzlement and waste of taxpayers’ money to the detriment of the State.”

It said the study revealed that the route, which has yet to be finished, figures as concluded, noting that to complete it additional Public Works submitted separate budgets of RD$422.6 million and RD$173.2 million, for a total of RD$595.8 million, in May and October 2010.

The study stressed that despite the advances in the construction of the concrete shoulders, retaining walls and the culverts, “it’s full of weeds and sediments throughout most of its length.”